Vitamin W, the W being Wasta.
What is it?
It is, as the Kuwait Times says, having the right man in the right place. Connections. Basically the paper is saying that there are unqualified officials in their positions due to their connections not due to merit.
Isam Bayazidi’s Blog says it well:
To start with, there is a special type of corruption, that is Wasta (English: a mean, mechanism, medium), and sometimes we even give it a nickname Vitamin Wow ( as it gives power and so). Wasta for those who are unfamiliar with the term is about having someone in a power position do something (legal or illegal) for you (a favor) that couldn’t be done without a wasta. The funny thing is that we don’t usually hide our acts when we use Wasta, but we brag about it, and offer providing the same wasta to people around us to help them out
He also mentions in his blog the World Culture Forum which just took place in Jordan. Interesting. I think Jordan is on the vacation list. It is cheap to get to from here and there is even SCUBA.
Leave a Reply